Singing "Around" Respiratory Problems

This is something all singers have to learn how to do.

Fortunately, in the almost 30 years that I have been a nonsmoker (I quit for the first time in 1976 when I started being serious about singing the first time, then started again, then quit for good in 1982)I get a serious respiratory "thing", maybe once every five years.

However I do get minor ones, usually not anything that people "catch" - just a bad reaction to bad air, allergens, and so forth.

I spent the weekend doing some heavy cleaning at my partner's house which is full of dust and then did her laundry. When I went to clean out the dryers there was enough lint in them to make a blanket, and I started wheezing like crazy.

When I woke up yesterday I thought I was choking and really thought I would be too hoarse to sing. But I began feeling better as the day wore on (I had some hot tea with lemon and a lot of cough drops) and when I went to try a practice session at 4, I sounded just fine! The only place I noticed a problem was in that pesky lower passagio (for me that means the E and F at the bottom of the staff), where it's too high to sing in chest voice (for me, anyhow) and my voice has very little volume on the best of days.

This morning I felt a little better (I also took some Mucinex) but there was a point when I was talking on the phone that I thought I was choking. So I had more tea with lemon and more cough drops, and gargled with some warm salt water, and called my teacher about my lesson that was scheduled for 4. I told him what was going on and he said by all means I should have a lesson, if I was able to sing yesterday, and that he would take a listen to see if I needed to make some adjustments.

Well, he agreed that I sounded a little breathy in the lower passagio (he said I sounded like I used to in that range, a year or more ago) and that my highest notes sounded like they didn't have "room", but he also said that technically I am handling the high notes much better. He also said that singing sometimes causes the phlegm to break up.

We went through Fenena's aria, because I had not been happy with how that sounded, and he gave me some pointers, mostly about keeping my larynx down, which is mostly what he tells me over and over, and if I can do it, I sound better. What's interesting, though, is that now, even if some of those top notes don't feel great (they still feel "tight") he says they sound a lot better because I am singing them darker. After Fenena we went over "Amour Viens Aider" and I did quite well with the B flat. In fact in both arias I did well with the descending runs, which are tricky. Even though I was having trouble around the passagio I didn't have that feeling I was hitting a "speed bump" around E at the bottom of the staff, which I used to.

Speaking of my teacher himself, he is feeling mostly recovered from his surgery and is able to sing full voice again. He says he might be interested in doing the Requiem in March (I still haven't spoken with the Pastor about it) and asked me to email him a list of which sections I want to do (basically all the solos arias, duets, trios, and quartets that don't need a chorus).

So now I just need to focus on stay in good shape for my recording date on December 6. Once I'm done with that I am going to ask the Pastor about using the church during Lent.